Guard for pocket articles



sept. 24, 1957 s. SCHULHOFF '2,807,303

GUARD FOR Pocks'r ARTICLES Filed Aug. 2, 1955 ATTORNEY BY'v i 2,807,303 1C@ Patented sept. 24,v 1957 GUARD FOR POCKET ARTICLES Application August 2, 1955, Serial No. 526,010

2 Claims.l (Cl. 150-47) This invention relates to guards or protectors for pocket articles and is particularly concerned with means for preventing loss by accident or theft, of pocket articles, such as billfolds, wallets, cases and the like.

Heretofore, it has been suggested that the loss of such articles by movement from a garment pocket without the owners knowledge could be prevented by some positive securing means, such as clips and pins. Such securement is, of course, effective, however, the detachment of clips, clasps and pins is awkward and time consuming. Furthermore, in many instances, special modication of the article or the garment was required .and/.or piercing, tearing or straining of the garment took place. It has also been suggested that some friction devices be employed to yieldablyresist movement of the article from the garment. Such devices have in ythe past required either the manufacture of the article with this end in yview or theremovable attachment of some encircling friction means. Where the device is manufactured to accommodate this purpose, added expense is incurred and the appearance of the device is altered. Where encircling friction means lare employed, they may become dislodged and hence, ineifective and, in use, they are cumbersome, requiring their removal to afr'ord access to the interior of the device.

It is therefore among the general objects of the present invention to provide a novel, simple and improved guard for pocket articles which will effectively yand eiciently preclude the inadvertent withdrawal of the article without the owners knowledge.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a friction type of pocket article guard which, while avoiding the disadvantages of positive securing means, will not require new manufacturing techniques as to the article, nor the removal of the guard when Vthe device is to be opened.

It is also among the objects of the present invention to provide a protector which may be readily, but permanently applied to pocket articles without destroying their artistic appearance nor detracting from their utilitarian function.

A further object of the invention is to provide means, of the character set forth, readily applicable to existing articles without special tools or skill and without, in any way, injuring or altering the structure of the article.

The invention also includes among its objectives that of providing strip material which may be cut to conform with the size and shape lof the article to which it is to be applied and which may be adhesively secured.

Numerous other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective vview of a pocket artic-le, such as a wallet, card or letter case or the like, to which the present invention -is applied;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View illustrating the operation of the device as thc `article is inserted into a pocket.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2, showing how the device responds as the article is withdrawn from a pocket; Fig. 4 is a front plan view of the article strip, and;

Fig. 5 is a detail fragmentary section taken along the line 55 of Fig. 4.

While the present inventive concept is broadly applicable in widely diering embodiments, that form of the invention, here presented by Way of illustration, may be characterized yas comprising a band or strip of material having one or more deformable and preferably outwardly inclined anges, lips or wickers. These members are adapted to be disposed in upwardly slanting relation with respect to the pocket of the garment into which the article is to be inserted. Upon insertion, the

\ flanges, lips or wickers are readily pressed Iagainst the article which may thus pass freely intothe pocket. Upon attempted withdrawal, however, the pocket material catches the wickers frictionally moving them outwardly from the article yand hence, restraining such movement. Thus, whether such outward movement is accidental or by way of attempted theft, the required pull to dislodge the article will be felt by the owner. It should be noted, however, that this resistance. is but frictional and no difficulty is experienced when the article is withdrawn by 'the owner. v

Referring now t-o the drawings, 'the pocket article to which the present device is to be applied is generally indicated by the numeral `10 in Figs. l, 2 and 3. The article, here presented, may be assumedto be a wallet, card or letter case or the like. It will, of course, be understood, that the invention is applicable to all sorts and conditions of pocket devices, both cloth or leather, or to plastic and metal articles. Nor is the invention limited to application to receptacles, such las cases and containers. Pocket knives, cigarette lighters, watches and like articles may prot by the application of the present invention. It is also to be understood that the invention is equally applicable and effective upon feminine pocket articles, as the masculine one, here suggested.

Asillustrated in Fig. 5, it will be seen, that the essential structure of the device includes a surface 1d from which there protrudes a flange, lip or Wicker 12. While the Wicker is here shown as substantially uniform in thickness and length, as well as generally rectangular, the invention is not .so limited. The wicker may be of widely varying characteristics. The wicker is here shown, as upwardly inclined at an Aangle something less than 4S degrees, but such angularity is not critical. The upward inclination, of course, provides maximum frictional resistance to upward withdrawal of the article from a pocket and minimum difficulty Iupon insertion, but it is conceivable, that the wickers could lie in a plane normal to the surface 11 to be reversibly inclined. An important feature of .the invention is that the wickers are flexible, thus yielding both in insertion, as shown in Fig. 2, to collapse against the surface 11, and likewise, outwardly llexing upon withdrawal of the article, as in Fig. 3, to frictionally engage the pocket walls 13 .to resist such movement.

As presented in Fig. 5, the surface 11 constitutes the outer face of a rubberbase 14 from which the wicker 1'2 extends, as an integral part. thereof. While various materials may be used and various body materials may be employed, the rubber base 14 is here shown, as mounted upon a cloth backing member 1S which is secured by .adhesive 16 to one face of a plastic tape, indicated at 17, .such as Scotch Tape. The opposite side of such tape is bonded by adhesive 18 to a heavy fabric,

as indicated at 19. The structure, thus built up, provides not only the yieldable soft outer face of rubber, but a durable and wear `resistant body` which may be readily applied to innumerable types of article surfaces.

As indicated in Figs. 1 to 4, a plurality of parallel wickers y12 are preferably provided. In this form of the invention, three such wickers extend outwardly and upwardly from the surface. As noted in Fig. 4, the present structure lends itself admirably to formation `in strips of indenite length. By so forming the material, suitable lengths may be cut to conform with the size and shape of the article to which it is to be applied. Thus, with the ease or Wallet 10, the strip 11 of Fig. 1, may have been severed from a strip of such length as to provide full transverse application to both sides of the article. By virtue of the cloth and plastic strip body for the rubber, itwill be observed that the strip may be readily secured to the surface of any article by the use of any appropriate adhesive. It will be further noted, `that such construction lends itself to the removal of the strip after undue wear and for replacement as may be required.

When the user desires to remove the article 1 to which the device of this invention is attached from the pocketfit is only necessary to grasp the same with the fingers engaging the wickers 12 on one side and the thumb engaging the wickers 12 on the opposite side of the article 10 to retract Ithe wickers 12 out of engagement with the walls 13 of the pocket to permit convenient withdrawal. The base 14 and wickers `112 may be so located on the article 10 as to facilitate thisoperation.

From the foregoing, it will be seen, that the present invention provides a novel simple and improved means for the protection of pocket articles. While effective and efficient in use, the device is, nevertheless, readily applied, durable and lends itself well to the demands of economic manufacture. one preferred form of the invention are here presented,

While `the structural details of 3o it will be understood, that numerous changes, modications and the full use of equivalents may be resorted to in the practice of the invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, as outlined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. For use on a foldable pocket article having at least one substantially smooth flat surf-ace, a guard comprising an elongated generally rectangular base, means to permanently attach said base to said surface with the opposite ends of said base terminating adjacent the opposite side edges of said surface to permit folding and unfolding of said article and a plurality of transversely spaced substantially parallel inclined tiexible wickers extending outwardly fromsaid base, eachwicker being continuous and extending substantially throughout the entire length of said base.

2. A pocket article guard comprising an elongated generally rectangular base, means to permanently attach said base to one side of a pocket article and a plurality of transversely spaced. substantially parallel inclined exible wickers extending outwardly from said base, each wicker being continuous and extending substantially throughout the entire length of said base.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 377,373 Ebert Feb. 7, 1888 1,265,824 Smith May 14, 1918 1,519,142 Lakin Dec. 16, 1924 1,632,785 Blair June 21, 1927 2,152,133 Brousseau ,Man 28, 1939 2,599,359 Banks et al. June 3, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,347 Sweden Mar. 11, 1891 

